Wesley Yang is one of the most interesting writers on the intersection of Asian male identity & the broader culture war, among other topics.
Read The Soul of Yellow Folks: amazon.com/dp/B07BLK8CBG/…
Here's a collection of some of his ideas & quotes in this thread👇
Read The Soul of Yellow Folks: amazon.com/dp/B07BLK8CBG/…
Here's a collection of some of his ideas & quotes in this thread👇
The Asian American male occupies a liminal space in culture.
He knows something about the the irritations of the white male, but also knows something of the resentments of the social justice advocate.
Tasting of the frustrations of both, he is denied the entitlements of either.
He knows something about the the irritations of the white male, but also knows something of the resentments of the social justice advocate.
Tasting of the frustrations of both, he is denied the entitlements of either.
Thus he is perfect to be the universal man:
One who is neither white nor black, and can thus mediate.
After social justice activism in Google & Microsoft, no coincidence they chose Indian CEOs.
After racial scandals at Yale, Missouri, no coincidence they chose Asian deans.
One who is neither white nor black, and can thus mediate.
After social justice activism in Google & Microsoft, no coincidence they chose Indian CEOs.
After racial scandals at Yale, Missouri, no coincidence they chose Asian deans.
That's why we need an Asian president
And of course people chuckle when hearing that
Why?
We can't quite articulate it or we wouldn't want to articulate it
But once you uncover what that reason is, then you start knowing the nature of the Asian American struggle.
And of course people chuckle when hearing that
Why?
We can't quite articulate it or we wouldn't want to articulate it
But once you uncover what that reason is, then you start knowing the nature of the Asian American struggle.
This is a micro-aggression. Or more precisely in this case, the love not given.
An acknowledgement of the subtle slights one faces b/c race. Helpful construct.
Taken to the extreme tho, it can be a weapon where you can catch people & invoke administrative power on your behalf.
An acknowledgement of the subtle slights one faces b/c race. Helpful construct.
Taken to the extreme tho, it can be a weapon where you can catch people & invoke administrative power on your behalf.
Andrew Yang was the Universal Man manifested.
Because as an Asian American, he's somehow apart. He could mediate in ways whites can't.
He won support from:
- Al Sharpton
- Alyssa Milano
- Charlamagne Tha God
- Bret Shapiro
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Tucker Carlson
- Chappelle
- Rogan
Because as an Asian American, he's somehow apart. He could mediate in ways whites can't.
He won support from:
- Al Sharpton
- Alyssa Milano
- Charlamagne Tha God
- Bret Shapiro
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Tucker Carlson
- Chappelle
- Rogan
Finally, an Asian leader regarded as someone who has vision and not just some tertiary figure whose job is to work on the technical back end of things.
This mediating figure that nobody can quite attack, that everybody can coalesce around as a kind of compromise candidate.
This mediating figure that nobody can quite attack, that everybody can coalesce around as a kind of compromise candidate.
Paradox of Asians:
They're dramatically *over-represented* in terms of overall academic & economic representation relative to their population
They're dramatically *under-represented* in terms of corresponding academic & economic representation relative to their accomplishments
They're dramatically *over-represented* in terms of overall academic & economic representation relative to their population
They're dramatically *under-represented* in terms of corresponding academic & economic representation relative to their accomplishments
Back to micro-aggressions:
Taken to extreme, it can spiral, and everyone can turn into an oppressor on some axis.
The book "Beauty Pays" takes a look at the premium that attractive people & tall people get in a pretty systematic fashion.
amazon.com/dp/B005AUSIOA/…
Taken to extreme, it can spiral, and everyone can turn into an oppressor on some axis.
The book "Beauty Pays" takes a look at the premium that attractive people & tall people get in a pretty systematic fashion.
amazon.com/dp/B005AUSIOA/…
There's no immunological defense against any egalitarian claim rn.
As a result an administrative leviathan is being constructed, a sort of surveillance system meant to police wrongdoing.
Despite the real harm of micro-aggressions, an excessive cure can be worse than the disease
As a result an administrative leviathan is being constructed, a sort of surveillance system meant to police wrongdoing.
Despite the real harm of micro-aggressions, an excessive cure can be worse than the disease
Free speech? Due process? Meritocracy?
New generations of college students have only encountered hostile critiques of these.
They've only read about social contract theory & everything we've used to become a multi-ethic society as the will to power of an oppressor.
New generations of college students have only encountered hostile critiques of these.
They've only read about social contract theory & everything we've used to become a multi-ethic society as the will to power of an oppressor.
Media too has been taken over by a sort of insurgency.
In the last few yrs (After "Before Times"), the ideology of Jezebel became something like the ideology of The New York Times.
Leads to Rotten Tomatoes phenomenon: Chappelle panned by the press, loved by the wider audience.
In the last few yrs (After "Before Times"), the ideology of Jezebel became something like the ideology of The New York Times.
Leads to Rotten Tomatoes phenomenon: Chappelle panned by the press, loved by the wider audience.
Which is why a mixed martial arts commentator (Joe Rogan) can get more traffic than The Washington Post & NYT combined.
He's no genius, he's a surrogate for the normal person encountering all of this stuff & looking for someone to make sense of it.
(FYI Rogan supports Sanders)
He's no genius, he's a surrogate for the normal person encountering all of this stuff & looking for someone to make sense of it.
(FYI Rogan supports Sanders)
Asians are fighting back against social engineering in NYC school systems.
There's an anti-meritocratic movement that says meritocracy is white supremacy, and yet the group that is hurt most by fighting meritocracy here is Asians: They outnumber whites in these gifted schools.
There's an anti-meritocratic movement that says meritocracy is white supremacy, and yet the group that is hurt most by fighting meritocracy here is Asians: They outnumber whites in these gifted schools.
These aren't rich people. Asians have the highest poverty group of any group in NYC.
These are the earnestly striving children of working lower middle class, immigrants from China a pretty large percentage of whom are undocumented.
The ppl these programs are meant to help.
These are the earnestly striving children of working lower middle class, immigrants from China a pretty large percentage of whom are undocumented.
The ppl these programs are meant to help.
There is a small minority speaking behalf of a larger majority, laundering their own individual psychopathology as a form of virtue and we're listening to them even though they don't represent the broader group (e.g only 2% of latinos identify w/ Latinx)
nymag.com/intelligencer/…
nymag.com/intelligencer/…
These activists have read Foucault, Saul Linsky
There was this debate in the 90s where you had these activists monkeying around with definition of words & the law, & then you had the real activists on the front lines criticizing the former group.
Turns out the former was right.
There was this debate in the 90s where you had these activists monkeying around with definition of words & the law, & then you had the real activists on the front lines criticizing the former group.
Turns out the former was right.
And so we have law professors whose job is to dream up new ways to define harms & remedies to those harms.
There's a smaller group of law professors whose job is to ensure the integrity of the law & ensure its basic functioning
Once these things are laws, they're hard to repeal
There's a smaller group of law professors whose job is to ensure the integrity of the law & ensure its basic functioning
Once these things are laws, they're hard to repeal
Paradox is that while wokeness seems to be subsiding in popular culture (see Ricky Gervais), it is gaining more and more power in the institutions (our education systems & law)
Our society is still healthy.
The freakout that's taken place in the media hasn't impinged upon our core institutions.
And the fear is is that at some point, they will, at some point, make its way into muscle and bone and get into the structure of the society and turn it over.
The freakout that's taken place in the media hasn't impinged upon our core institutions.
And the fear is is that at some point, they will, at some point, make its way into muscle and bone and get into the structure of the society and turn it over.
The work I'm doing now is trying to defend a space for people to be told that their perception that things are going crazy is correct
That normative behavior is routinely violated by institutions that used to be the gatekeepers of normative behavior
What's true is still true
That normative behavior is routinely violated by institutions that used to be the gatekeepers of normative behavior
What's true is still true
